Ostia Antica

Ostia Antica is a gem, much more extensive and better preserved than the Roman Forum area in the center of Rome but much less well known as witnessed by the small number of tourists who were there today.   We were well prepped for our visit by Diana Kleiner's MOOC lecture from Yale University.

Ostia was a densely populated port city and thus had far more multi story condos than single story villas. A bit like Vancouver's west end.  The building below originally had four stories

The mosaics were the most impressive remnants of this once vibrant city.  The one below was on the floor of a ship Chandler's shop.

This mosaic was on the floor of one of the rooms at the baths of Neptune.

Fast food to take out or eat in was readily available including hot meals from Mc Donatellos.

And of course there was a theater.  While the Greeks had to build theirs into hill sides, the Romans who had mastered the technology of concrete built their own concrete hill sides.